8/07/2013

We are so rich yet so miserable

Singapore is one of the richest countries in the world, or maybe the richest on a per capita basis using the reserves divided by the population of citizens. With this kind of money at the govt’s disposal, why is it that the people are getting more and more unhappy and upset with the govt? Shouldn’t the govt dish out some from the public coffers to make the people happier and less miserable? Or the govt could do it another way, by not squeezing more from the people through public housing, medical bills in public hospitals or through subsidizing public transportation and education?
 

Let me give two simplistic views on why the govt is not doing the obvious and get elected and get more popular votes in every election without having to stage rallies to convince the people how good it is. One possibility that is being rumoured, I hear drums beating, is that there is not enough money left as the losses in investments could not cover for the debt owing to the people in the CPF savings scheme. I say this is rumour and without any truth whatsoever as no one knows other than those in the know how much is left. The simple thinking is that if the govt has the money, there is no need to keep shifting the goal posts on withdrawal dates for taking out the CPF savings by the people or increasing the minimum sums to ever higher sums. Ok, no need to belabour this point as it is just an imagination of the people.
 

Another possible reason, this is just a personal view and is just as flawed as any rumour or misinformation, is that the govt is made up of sadistic people who enjoyed making the people miserable, especially Singaporeans. The billions or trillions in the reserves are there but the govt just refuses to let the people have them to have an easier time. The people must be strangled financially by a big 30 year housing loan to keep them in check and cannot be funny. The money in their CPF accounts must be kept away from them so that they cannot have fun with mei meis or toy boys. The govt just does not want to let the people have a good time.
 

OK, this is just a theory that the govt is made up of wicked people. Of course this is not true. They are the most compassionate, caring, selfless, righteous, honest and honourable people the country could ever produce. There is no reason for them to keep the money from the people. And the money is there, and they are not taking it to enrich themselves. The money is to be kept there for a rainy day in the future, when the rain comes. Maybe they are waiting for purple rain.
 

Seriously, why is the govt doing this to the people, making the people so angry and unhappy, and risking themselves being booted out in the next GE? Why don’t they take the easy way out, share the nation’s prosperity with the people to make the people live easier and more comfortable, cheaper public housing, free public transportation, cheaper health care, and still can charge foreigners to make up for the deficit? Why make foreigners richer and happier and citizens more miserable?
 

I really cannot understand. The govt cannot be so stupid right? What is the real reason for the govt to make life so difficult for the people and keep trying to make it worse by stubbornly trying to flood the island with more foreigners to replace the citizens, with higher and higher property prices and cost of living? Maybe this is the absolute proof that the citizens are daft and could not understand why the govt is doing this to them, for their own good. Only super talents can understand the goodness of all these tough and painful policies and decisions made by the govt.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

G have over the decade dug a hole so deep that it is very difficult (but not impossible) to get out off. Question is who's gonna rock the boat when one is paid so damn well.

Anonymous said...

So rich that we are afraid to lose it, thus so miserable.

LKY is not responsible for the low birth rate, thus makes it even more miserable.... your rapid urbanization, nuclear family, stop at 2, all lead to tremendous stress on the people that they do not have time and energy and resource to reproduce.... all sucked dry by all the fantastic policies... even meritocracy is part of the reason.... wtf...

Later on, GCK and LHL not responsible for the flooding of the island with F@*k Trash to pump up to 6.9m and beyond, it will not only be miserable, it will be HELL on earth, when 10 to 15 years ago, it was HEAVEN on earth, SWISS Standard.... my foot.

knnbccb.... how not to be miserable.

Anonymous said...

Me think the misery is caused by some misunderstanding on policy. For example people feel miserable that they can not take their cpf out not know ing that in reality cpf is a tax and not their money. So it's up to the government when to release the tax back to them. Another example with be Coe, it's a consumption tax to discourage consumption in private transport so it has to be painful mah and sinkie look at it from traffic congestion solution etc.

So many misunderstanding that cause the misery. If sinkies perceive the policies correctly, they won't the cpcb so much, Tio Bo?

Of course I am not saying the policies are good just wrongly received

Anonymous said...

Sinkies not happy?

Cannot be lah!
Check it out; dont You see the many aunties crowding around our parliamentarians giggling and thrusting their youngs for photo shoots. And look at what they are wearing, mostly red and white. See also how spirited and positive they are about living in Sin under the Best possible leaders.
The Womanfolks got sixth sense and intuition, whence they feel good, it must be good. When they proclaim their MPs as best, they are the Best.
Watch them on television now as National Day Celebrations will prove to You how happy Sinkies are.

Anonymous said...

LIVE SIMPLY LIVE SIMPLY LIVE SIMPLY .......


........able to live simply and within yr means will at least give you the peace..........


........so that your personal frustration and miserable index can be kept to as low as possible, close to zero.........

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

I'm not miserable. I cannot understand what the fuss is all about.

Oh wait...could it be that people have so much free time on their hands, that their imaginations run wild by creating "phantom problems" just so these ungrateful ass-wipes can have some "purpose" in their self-inflicted misery.

b said...

Only the top 1% are rich and the rest are just slaves. It is like that everywhere. Why the 99% have to listen to the 1%? when will the people ever learn to unite against the 1%? This world is full of bullshits.

Anonymous said...

"I really cannot understand. The govt cannot be so stupid right? What is the real reason for the govt to make life so difficult for the people ... "

Why redbean waste time to try and understand?
Redbean understand or don't understand is not the problem.

The problem is if we vote for PAP in GE 2016, will anything change?
If not, then we have to vote Opposition.

The problem is the PAP gahmen.
The solution is to change gahmen.

Anonymous said...

Just look at people around you..............

Coe close to 100K people also buy ..........

Housing at record high also flooded by buyers......

etc etc etc.........

What so miserable about .........

Anonymous said...

"Coe close to 100K people also buy .......... "

Yeah lor!
PAP gahmen so lousy, people also vote.

Anonymous said...

The tragedy will start when the buyer loses his job or income for whatever reason and there is a big mortgage that cannot be paid.

Everyone is so optimistic that nothing can go wrong and bravely or madly takes up a million or half a million dollar loan.

Anonymous said...

Singaporeans ahhhhh Singaporeans

"U ARE NOT SCARE OF EXPENSIVE .......U ARE ONLY SCARE DONT HAVE"..........

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@904:

I've always considered taking out huge mortgages to be the dumbest financial decision anyone can make, and it seems there's never a shortage of people who not only Dream of living beyond their means but actually Engage in folly that could financially RUIN them.

These fucks don't have at least ONE YEARS Wages put away, yet they have no hesitation in taking out mortgages which are larger than 10 years wages, and thinking that "don't worry, nothing will go wrong".

Assholes. They deserve the consequences of their self sabotage.

@908;

Those few words are the best expression of the financial dream world many deluded Singaporeans live in.

Anonymous said...

Matilah 9.31

U are 100% right!

Anonymous said...

..sorry should be Matilah 9.33 not 9.31.........

U are 100% right!

Anonymous said...

RB, I believe the first reason you gave is probably right. The gahmen is broke from heavy investment losses. Some years back, we bought heavily into foreign banks that failed, and all these money have gone up in smoke. We were naive to think that we have full control over these banks, like the way we have control over local banks !

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@951:

I can assure you that the Singapore govt is not broke. Even if they didn't take in any revenue, there is enough in the kitty to last perhaps 10-20 years - i.e. paying for everything to run the Mother Cuntree.

Anyway, just because the govt does silly things is no reason for you to be miserable.;-)

To be miserable, you need to do and OWN the silly things you do. For e.g. I once met a guy who is constantly miserable. This idiot took $20k out of his credit card to buy a Rolex watch so that he could "impress girls".

With this kind of thinking abound, you can count on concomitant misery.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

No the govt did not even think of controlling these banks. They did not demand for a controlling voice or presence. They trusted the big banks and their management as honest businessmen who would do their due diligence.

It is the last thing in their mind that the big banks are run by crooks for their own interests.

They was so much trust and faith in our naivity to leave our billions in the hands of foreigners that we have no control whatsoever.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@redbean:

The sg.gov's daliance with world-class banksters is their own damn fault. Like you said, no due diligence. But you can bet plenty of guan xi.

I'm sure Dhanabalan (for e.g.) has some juicy stories about what actually went on. However good luck in getting him to talk about it ;-)

Anyway, not to worry lah. As long as people are forced to pay the CPF Ponzi-Tax, rest assured the finances of Paradise are nicely secure!

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Yep, we all pay dearly for them to play with our money and to treat us like shit.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Yep, we all pay dearly for them to play with our money and to treat us like shit.

And betterer, they denied vehemently that they are using the CPF money or our money. They must have gotten their money from their fairy god fathers and god mothers.

Anonymous said...

Answer to your header is most of S'porean money is in
the CPF and Spore living cost is high.

It is clear that our government like many others are not able to give good
return if stick the original retire plan. To be fair they cannot be at fault for all investment. However they are overpaid and talk very big.